


and this will be the one moment that matters at all

by Pearidolia (AraceliL)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Don't read, Fluff and Angst, M/M, One Shot, Overly Dramatic, grossly cheesy, super obvious ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:30:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraceliL/pseuds/Pearidolia
Summary: This will be the one moment that defines him, the one moment that ends the gamble, the moment that rests the wandering hands of fate. This will be the one moment that he remembers.This will be the moment that Yugi remembers.





	

So this is how the world dissolves, in words and one nervous breath. 

So this is how the world dies, with a gradual certainty as graceful and inevitable as a wave against a riverbank, as routine led way to ignorance, with one single soul alone to witness, one to bring it all to that point of no return -- not with a bang but a whisper, a whisper from frigid lips frozen by fear -- no, not fear, he’s never been fearful, never -- from lips hesitating with teeth and nerves and that startling self-awareness he has, even at his age (their age?), and he knows, they both know, that this is the point, this is the event horizon. 

This is the one moment that matters, the one moment that matters at all. 

This is the moment that takes flight between waiting lungs, the pause between the only words that matter, the shallow breath of surprise. This is the climax, the singularity, this is the part he will always regret. This is the bright shine in his eyes that causes him to steady his heart, so much emotion flooding purple irises. So…

**_Right. Perfect. Honest. Yearning. Lovely. Innocent. Good._ **

Him.

_ Stay with me. _

This will be the one moment that defines him, the one moment that ends the gamble, the moment that rests the wandering hands of fate. This will be the one moment that he remembers. 

This will be the moment that Yugi remembers.

Atem is speechless. He always is in some way around Yugi, he knows, whether it be from lovesickness or interruption, but he feels as though the air has been ripped from his lungs in one uproarious wave of astonishment and awe. 

He’s aware of where they are, of the friends he’s made along this second journey through life surrounding them, of the cards still scattered along the dusty floor of the cave where they’d been thrown in finality. He won’t be needing them anymore. Faithful and steadfast as they have been over the thousands of years, they no longer bind him to this world, this present. His responsibility is done; his duty is fulfilled. The curtain calls and the door’s single ornamentation, a stylistic eye he’s very familiar with, stares apathetically back at him. 

Sympathy has no place with fate. She tries to reach a warm hand to fate’s goddess, to coax, to plead; does friendship, loyalty, the  _ love  _ they learned to share with each other, mean so little? Can such bonds, the only ones that matter, really be severed by that which brought them together? Surely life cannot be so cruel. Surely fate must turn her silken head and grant one reluctant smile. Surely his reward for how patient he’s been, how willing and striving he’s been, how much he learned -- isn’t that enough? 

The door’s eye gleams like it was on his own forehead. He’s heard smatters of prophecy or fate or whatever here and there saying he will be rewarded. The heroes always get rewarded. But he’s not the hero here and the only reward he wants is staring at him with huge, purposeful eyes.

The boy that stands before him is no longer a boy, but a young man. Where he once peered down to see a small child, barely taller than his own hair, are warm violet eyes sharing a confidence in their locked gaze that makes him feel a sharp pain in his sternum. Where there had been strife and mistakes and regrets, there is a certainty in this moment, a beginning. Where there had been a darkness with glowing red eyes and a light brighter than all the stars in the heavens, there is a partnership, a friendship, an intimacy that seeps deep enough to call it pure, or true -- the truest kind of bond between people. 

The the kind of bond that would change everything. The only one that matters at all.

_ Stay with me.  _

Yugi’s eyes alone could have brought his whole ancient kingdom to its knees, Atem is sure of it. His smile could build temples and mountains and burn them all right down. His lovely face is the most beautiful danger Atem’s ever seen, and as Yugi smiles nervously he hears alarm bells firing in his head, his heart pumps desperately fast, his real (own!) hands already reaching to him of their own accord.

This is the moment that decides it. 

This is the one moment, but his lips are paralyzed because his fingers have grasped Yugi’s arm and he’s real, he’s solid, he can  _ feel  _ again and tears spring to his eyes before he recognizes the feeling. He’s staring so intently at his hand on Yugi’s sleeve that he’s startled when he feels fingers threading through his, jerking his gaze to stare dumbly at their entwined hands, and a tear falls. He closes his eyes and relishes the feeling of it on his skin. 

_ Stay with me, Atem. Please.  _

He opens his eyes to see two wet streaks across Yugi’s cheeks, and he touches his palms to them without thought, thumbs erasing the tears instinctually. He realizes he’s let go of Yugi’s hand and is momentarily horrified, but Yugi cups Atem’s hand with his own and presses into it. 

He needs to answer. He is (was) a king -- he can make hard decisions. 

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? This isn’t a hard decision, not in the slightest.

**_Yes._ **

How could he tell him no? 

**_But you have to._ **

The tears bleed from under scrunched eyelids and he pulls Yugi’s face to his own, fingers clutching desperately at his hair, and he presses his mouth onto his surprised lips. It’s surreal, the whole thing feels like a cruel mirage in the empty desert of the pyramid he’d been trapped in gods know how long. It’s a breath in the ocean of turmoil, memories cycling like waves. It’s perfect and everything he’s ever wanted, just as warm, just as sweet, just as Yugi as he’d always dreamed of and he cries because he can’t have it ever again. 

Yugi makes a noise under his hands and he immediately pulls away, suddenly hyperaware of the awkward shuffling around them. He stalls before looking into Yugi’s eyes by drying his face and trying to regain some dignity.

But Yugi’s looking at him with a look of unbridled joy even in the face of such a certainty and not the look of displeasure he’d feared, and a chill trickles down his back even as his eyes threaten to betray him again. Time is slipping into the pinch of the hourglass and the last grain, whichever it will be, is trickling toward the cliff, the last second, the last moment. 

So he leans down gently and rests his forehead to Yugi’s, nose to nose, hands on his shoulders, and tells him truthfully,  _ You know I can’t. I do not belong here.  _

In that incredible way he has, Yugi is still smiling bravely and warmly in the face of adversary.  _ No. You belong with me.  _

Atem’s heart crumbles into a stinging pain and his insides turn over; he wants to tell Yugi he’s right, he’s won, he’s the victor, as expected -- he should’ve known better than to go to battle against the champion, but once upon time he’d been a glorious pharaoh and heads tend to swell when wearing tight crowns. His dumb lips fumble for words and his tongue presses uselessly against his teeth.

_ You deserve so much more than me.  _

Yugi’s smiling gently. Always so gentle, so good. Never in Atem’s long life has he ever met somebody who’s intentions are so pure, so genuine. Yugi has never asked anybody for more than they could give, and Atem has a sinking feeling this is still the truth -- and really, isn’t this simply what he owes him? He owes him the world and all the kingdoms in it, Yugi deserves all the riches and the glory a pharaoh would have. 

It hits Atem, then, what Yugi’s words really mean, and he feels incredibly stupid and happy and tormented all at once.

_ You deserve so much more than I could ever give to you, _ he tells him, but Yugi’s still smiling, peaceful in this last moment, staring down fate with a certainty of his own.

_ But I don’t want those things, Atem,  _ Yugi whispers, and Atem has completely forgotten about the little audience surrounding them. All that remains is him and Yugi, in this moment, nose to nose, face to face, heart to heart -- all that matters is this boy he’s fallen in love with and the electricity he feels between their fingers. 

_ I want you. _

His eyes search Yugi’s helplessly -- it truly is the end now, the master has become the student and he begs his partner for some sort of guidance, some sort of retribution, some sort of saving --  _ I can’t  _ is rising from his throat and his tongue rolls the words around in his mouth. He wants to spit them out. His hands grip Yugi’s shoulders tighter and his eyes are dizzyingly violet this close, bright and vivid as an oil painting, and he swims in them as tears threaten to distort his view. He refuses. If this is his last view of the most beautiful eyes in this world, past or present, he refuses to miss it. 

_ I need you  _ comes from Yugi’s lips, and then tears are falling, and then he closes his eyes one last time before he feels Yugi’s mouth pressed to his, and his heart swells with certainty and  _ yes, yes, yes, I’ll do anything for you, anything,  _ and he’s kissing him fiercely and still crying and he feels like one embarrassing bloody mess but Yugi is warm and real and solid against him and he thinks this is probably his real reward, because it’s impossible for the gods to give him anything better than this. Yugi kisses like he competes, with an almost unnatural skill and ease, and Atem falls into him, defeated, as he knew he would be. 

When Yugi pulls back Atem knows the answer. 

This is the moment, and certainty looms over him as Yugi breathes shakily against his lips.  _ Stay with me? _

Sure, Yugi deserves more than Atem being too breathless to say  _ yes  _ to him,  _ yes, yes I’ll stay,  _ but when he can only nod and Yugi’s eyes shine brighter than the stars and suddenly he’s hit with 100 pounds of crying teenager, face buried into his neck, and all he is is another crying teenager, and Yugi deserves better than this, Atem thinks, he deserves a grand story, a romantic end, not this blubbering mess. But Yugi is whispering into his neck and his heart is bounding. Yugi deserves more than he could ever give him, but Atem knows he’ll have to spend his whole life trying, and really, he thinks, that is the best reward of all. 

**Author's Note:**

> hi, thanks for reading if you did! In case anyone here is following my other story Variations, I promise I will get back to that (eventually). College is hard and priorities have to happen, even though I wish all I could do all day is lay around and write ygo smut. life is hard  
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed! I haven't written in a while and would love to hear some feedback cos this probably sucks, it's like barely edited don't hate me


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